'Money-eating' traffic officers in South Africa suspended after viral video

Two South African traffic police officers seen in a viral video eating from the boot of a car around stacks of cash and playing loud music have been suspended for three months.

The South African police said the officers from Johannesburg’s Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) had brought the service into “disrepute” after displaying “unprofessional conduct”.

The video which went viral last week on social media showed the two uniformed men eating lunch in styrofoam packs next to stacks of R100 and R200 South African bank notes in the same packs.

One of them picked a note and wiped his mouth while a woman in the background, suspected to be the one filming, remarked in the Zulu language which literally meant: “Meat is being eaten, money is being eaten”.

Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago said in a statement on Thursday that the officers were given a chance to explain to the Chief of Police why they should not be suspended.

He added that they were ordered to hand in their uniforms and identification badges on Wednesday while internal investigations open into the incident.

The South African Police Minister Mbalula Fikile had earlier threatened on Twitter that they will be brought to justice.

Look at THIS shame….. Thugs in our mist, we will not true we eill find them and Bring them to justice……Rule Of Law pic.twitter.com/wUgWqisxlk